Some educational applications of alpha spectrometry

The most difficult task in alpha spectrometry is perhaps preparing the source to be measured, but once sources are prepared, the gathering and analysis of results is an activity which can be developed in undergraduate laboratories. Energy calibration, determinations of counting yield and energy resolution, calculation of areas under the peaks in the spectrum (overlapping and well separated), determination of activities, etc, are frequently tasks that students find straightforward and informative. Neither is the cost of the experimental set-up needed for such measurement excessive. In this paper, some of these educational applications of alpha spectrometry are described. (Author)